Surviving Minnesota!

[lvie]

I have a friend chicken sitting for us that has no chicken experience whatsoever. These are my care instructions that I think scared her the most:

1.) Just ignore the clucky hens in the nest box. They'll growl at you, but it's okay.....just slip your hand under them and grab the eggs. Be fast. No eye contact.

2.) When you open the run and coop door all of the chickens will run out into the yard. Don't be afraid. Just grab the bag of mealworms and shake it when it's time for them to go back in. There might be a few stragglers, but they'll eventually roam your way. If all else fails, do the chicken dance.

3.) Make sure you actually give them mealworms or you will have ****** off chickens. On how to care for ****** off chickens, refer to the next page.

4.) Steve the Rooster only loves me. Don't show fear or turn your back on him.

5.) If you see Joey the Silkie running into walls, feeders, etc. you have to trim her beard, crest, and muff. Yes, she has a beard. Scissors are in the chicken care box, which is located under the chicken attack box.

6.) In the event that you encounter a chicken death, remove all organs, embalm the chicken, put on funeral pyre of sticks, sing an Irish tune, and light the pyre. Make sure you contain the fire to 3ftx3ft per East Bethel fire regulations.

7.) Good luck with the poop board. Hazmat suit is hanging in the garage.

This has me Laughing OUT Loud. Thank you. I simply must pirate it and save it for my hubby to read. Thank you.

 

[duluthralphie]

The weather forecast was off, it started snowing about 10 minutes after 11. It is now snowing but not hard enough to amount for much.

 

[Bogtown Chick]

@Bogtown Chick , your vacation sounds much more nice than mine! No Mariachi band, sound of the surf, or Mexican cuisine. I don't even get any Pina Colada's since I'm growing a baby. I'm starting to think I'm not going on vacation at all.

MinnesotaNice Growing that baby is something to look forward to. What an exciting part of your life that 9 months. I remember it...and I could have cared less about tropical vacations. Ahhh such a treasured time.

Hope all you vacationers make it there and back again safely. I've never been a vacationer, but I have always, before I settled in MN, lived someplace nearby the ocean. Lately, I've had a deep longing to touch the sand and salt water. It sounds corny, but when Minnesotans live other places, they miss the grass and trees and bluffs the way I miss the oceanside. My husband sees it and has started saving up his vacation days to take the family out west for a week or two. But who will watch the animals?? LOL

Dandelioness I understand you perfectly. We visited the in-laws in South Texas some time back. It is like going to Maple Grove only white plastic bags stuck in the Mesquite in the ditches. It wasn't until they took us to South Padre Island beach did I fully relax and appreciate where I was at. The connection with the beach and the surf are strong things. And just sitting in a chair watching the kids pick sea-shells or race barefooted in the wet sand hopping over the water as it pushed in... was the BEST. It was those close to nature things that saved that trip for me. That and picking an orange off the In-laws tree every morning for breakfast. My goodness they were good oranges. I could not live there though. This I know. And am lucky to have a lake to access and woods and trees that surround me in green. And Chickens on Green Grass (soon again) .... I get it...I do.

 

[lvie]

So I took the dogs for their walk. Opened the chickie run to check on them - one ran out. Refused to cooperate on returning to where she belongs. So I let Tom Hanks out to take care of her and locked the rest down in the front portion of the coop. Then I came in to read for a few minutes.

Holy Cats! With all your snow talk I looked up and out the basement windows in my office and wow! It is snowing hard! I don't care. Its Minnesota! It is not staying. Beautiful weather this next week. Planning my activities so I can get alot done outside.

 

[lvie]

For the first time in ten years we are not going to the 'beach.' My DH isn't happy about this. Once again - IDC. It is nice to put my feet in the sand and meditate. I used to drink but am no longer a big drinker. One or two - I am a cheap date. Pick me up from under the table. And the sun - done that too. Mainly we sit under a hut and read and eat and have a few drinks. I would rather have my chickens. And dogs. I listen to the wind rustle through the trees with their dried, left-over leaves on them. I do have big windows. I am sure that helps. I like the sun. It is coming back . . . . . honest.

 

[Bogtown Chick]

I am Pirating MinnesotaNice's Chicken Care as well! I am dying here....OMG....

My good Friend Shannon will be watching our chickens. Last summer she went to Yellowstone with her family and I took on her chickens, Rabbit, Cat & Hermit Crab for 8 days. She gave me a one hour massage gift certificate for the Rabbit, Cat and Hermit Crab. LOL.
She and I bargained for a swap chicken watching. So she'll be slipping and sliding down my Icy Little Hill. (I didn't think of that when I made the bargain and feel slightly guilty about the ice)
She has already expressed that she is wanting to learn to butter up the Big Tootsie. We'll work on that with her. But since he is in love with me only I have my doubts and have a bamboo fluff-lifter that she probably will only need to hold in her hand and not even use. As he respects the fluff lifter more than anything...even me.
I'm going to stream line for her as much as possible and have feed on the deck so she doesn't need to rifle in the garage.

My Mom with bad knees is watching Sadie. She is not allowed down the icy hill. She'll pour buckets of water for Shannon and get out the spinach greens...etc. So it's a quick process.

Oh Gosh I hate this part...leaving the animals in other people's care. Because they never do it "right." LOL.

 

[Bogtown Chick]

For the first time in ten years we are not going to the 'beach.' My DH isn't happy about this. Once again - IDC. It is nice to put my feet in the sand and meditate. I used to drink but am no longer a big drinker. One or two - I am a cheap date. Pick me up from under the table. And the sun - done that too. Mainly we sit under a hut and read and eat and have a few drinks. I would rather have my chickens. And dogs. I listen to the wind rustle through the trees with their dried, left-over leaves on them. I do have big windows. I am sure that helps. I like the sun. It is coming back . . . . . honest.

I'm getting more like this Ivie. I find comfort in my chicken chores and the dog and the fireplace and a good book.

This trip is about the kids this go around. They need to experience this...so that's what we're up to.

 

[aussiegal318]

. Holm what is the Aussie?

Aussie = Australorp

I'm glad you asked erlibrd, all I could think of was when did holm start raising Australian Shepherds?

Where are you at dandelioness? I am in elk river. This is my (our) first time raising chickens so the poor things are the teachers. I was thinking of putting in a 50 watt ceramic heater way up high in the coop. Just to basically warm it a bit at night and then i will have to pull that slowly too in the next few weeks. I have all hens. 2 amaracauna's, 2 gold lace wyandottes, and 2 buff orpingtons. I would say they are 90% feathered out at 5 ish weeks. They have some down yet around their neck and bellys but have full feathers. They are about the size of a blue jay now. Wow they seem to be growing as we speak. lol

Ralphie, another one close by for camp day! Lilbear there are a bunch of us from the Elk River/Big Lake/Anoka area. When home, I'm in Nowthen.

Here is Jill Rees' web page. There's a lot of White on those award winning Creamettes and Creamers. gorgeous.http://www.jillscreamlegbars.co.uk/# And these were mine from Heidi: and then their hatched chicks from eggs during their quarantine (before drive up window dates with Rog)

I still love that picture of Roger, does he still come in for his daily crackers?

I have a friend chicken sitting for us that has no chicken experience whatsoever. These are my care instructions that I think scared her the most: 1.) Just ignore the clucky hens in the nest box. They'll growl at you, but it's okay.....just slip your hand under them and grab the eggs. Be fast. No eye contact. 2.) When you open the run and coop door all of the chickens will run out into the yard. Don't be afraid. Just grab the bag of mealworms and shake it when it's time for them to go back in. There might be a few stragglers, but they'll eventually roam your way. If all else fails, do the chicken dance. 3.) Make sure you actually give them mealworms or you will have ****** off chickens. On how to care for ****** off chickens, refer to the next page. 4.) Steve the Rooster only loves me. Don't show fear or turn your back on him. 5.) If you see Joey the Silkie running into walls, feeders, etc. you have to trim her beard, crest, and muff. Yes, she has a beard. Scissors are in the chicken care box, which is located under the chicken attack box. 6.) In the event that you encounter a chicken death, remove all organs, embalm the chicken, put on funeral pyre of sticks, sing an Irish tune, and light the pyre. Make sure you contain the fire to 3ftx3ft per East Bethel fire regulations. 7.) Good luck with the poop board. Hazmat suit is hanging in the garage.

That is so funny! I needed a good laugh today. Vacationers someone have a piñata colada for me too. They don't serve alcohol here at the Fairview Riverside Suites, and it looks like it's going to be another week before our 'vacation' ends. More pictures everyone!

 

[Dandelioness]

Speaking of backyard breeding projects, these are some of my mixed breed chicks from last season. These were ones I incubated.


This one, above, is Lemon. Everyone who visits likes him the best, but he doesn't do much for me. I believe my RIR rooster and one of my Cinnamon Queens are responsible for him. I had put some random eggs in the incubator for this batch as I didn't have quite enough "special" eggs from the breeding pens when I started. He's kind of a packing peanut, you could say.





This one is my favorite, the kids dubbed him Bronze Wing. He is an Easter Egger roo over a cuckoo Marans hen. I like the smokey color and the pop of orange on his saddle area. I really think I'm going to keep him, but not breed him. His male siblings do not have the smokey color, but they are barred and have the beards and muffs from the EE gene. I need to take a photography class or something. He's awfully pretty.



This is the EE roo I lost to the stock tank earlier this winter, and the sire for my Olive Eggers. I feel like he knew what a phone camera was. He would turn and let me see all his glossy feathers whenever I would try and take a picture. Other chickens may run away, but not Chocolate. He would slow down and pose for you. See his leg? He is showing you how nice his willow-colored chicken legs are. I would often hear "I'm too sexy for my pants" or "You're so vain" in my head when watching him show off his beautiful self. Will I ever have another rooster this beautiful?? The hens I got with him are great layers. I'm getting almost an egg a day from them right now. They are three years old!!! So you all can see my need for an EE roo to keep these good genes alive.



And Ralphie - here's a game for you - Find the Keet! Thought I had lost a guinea to the coyotes last summer. One day, I go out to open the coop and guess who is standing there with thirteen little keets?? I had heard about and seen guineas being mean to new birds, so I watched them carefully as I let out the main flock (hens, half-growns, and guineas at this point in the year). The guineas had apparently been talking before I let them out and all of them got into formation around the keets and took them foraging all through the fields and woods together. It was actually pretty amazing, because we know how stupid guineas are, right?? Any cat, dog, or bird who got too close to the keets would be charged by a few members of this elite squadron. I would check about an hour before dusk but could never find the mama and keets to try to bring them into the coop. But there they'd be every morning when I came out and the other guineas would come outside and get into formation and amuse me the rest of the day. Sadly, one morning about three weeks later, no mama and only five keets showed up. Well, we have a guinea named Gimpy that flies around a lot because she tore off her toes on one foot in a very guinea-like accident. She took up the mantle of mama guinea and the rest of the guineas would form around them. She had them in the coop the first night, and I still have all of them. However, one by one, my other guinea fowl went missing. I know the coyotes were running around in broad daylight some days. I still have the Gimpy mama and five almost fully grown keets, but I think the rest of them tried to chase off coyotes and became supper here and there. I am hoping one of them is a male, it is a rare thing to have a guinea brood and successfully raise a clutch of keets and I'd like to keep that instinct alive in my subflock. Too soon to tell, they are just now starting to look like fully grown adults. Just last week I had to check all their feet to see which one was the foster mom.



Here they were in the early fall.

Well, have a good day, folks!

 

[ejb3810]

R&R in the sun is always nice. I would be there now except for one small complication. Mexico is nice, but there is not many feral chickens to watch in my experiences. In Jamaica and Tahiti they were roaming all over. They are what I call free entertainment.